Expose or not to Expose?

Have you ever asked the question, when is too soon to expose your child to life?  I know I have.  Things have changed over the decades where children are being exposed way to soon to a lot of life altering situations, what ever happened to allow the child to be a child...

So when is too soon to talk about drugs, strangers, sex, std's, teen pregnancy, being an individual and accepting oneself, etc.  At what age should a child have choices to be themselves and express their creativity or sexuality?  These are the questions that plague a lot of parents mind.  Like the other day I was having a debate with a few of my friends on facebook about a guy who's child's mother decided to take her to a concert without his knowledge, knowing he didn't approve of exposing his child to rap music at her age.  There was a lot of debate surrounding the mother should have discussed it before purchasing tickets, the child is going to hear the music playing somewhere so why not allow her to listen under your roof, that perhaps he was overreacting, etc. 

I would have to say in my own personal opinion that parents need to be a sounding block for children.  Parents need to discuss with each other first any decisions that are made that affect the child's upbringing.  This is why it is so important for parents to be able to communicate well with each other.  When parents are together in the household they should discuss any and everything together then talk to the child together so that they can see they are on the same page and there will be no playing sides.  If parents are separated, divorced, or even just live in separate homes and never married I think they should communicate any questions that the child has asked, communicate any rules that you have at one house so that they match up with the rules at the other house so that the child isn't confused.  I have seen too many times where one rule may apply at one house and not at the other, now the child is acting out because they feel dad is too strict and mom lets me get away with a lot.

It is the discretion of the parent to expose their child to certain things in life, just communicate with the other parent and try not exposing the child to too much at one time.  Explain it in away that they can understand and that they aren't grossed out or scared to talk to you about the subject in the future.  Your life will be much easier knowing you gave them the tools and knowledge to go out into the world and make the right decision.